


Pepper Potts. CEO. Fiancé. Spider slayer.

by Em_hrtly



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Pepper Potts, Borderline crack, Drabble, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Funny, Humor, One Shot, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper saves the day, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Spiders, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-23 08:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23675578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_hrtly/pseuds/Em_hrtly
Summary: A small tale of Peter and Tony being held hostage by a spider and Pepper saving the day.And no, ‘spider’ is not a codename. It’s a literal spider.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 23
Kudos: 281





	Pepper Potts. CEO. Fiancé. Spider slayer.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody! This is just a little one-shot idea I had floating around in my head that I wanted to get out. 
> 
> This fic was partly inspired by a text post on Tumblr by @asgardianmarauders (https://asgardianmarauders.tumblr.com/)  
> :)

Tony checked the time with FRIDAY for what must have been the fifth time in half an hour. 6:42pm. Perfect, he still had eighteen minutes.

He was desperate to finish working on his latest repulsor upgrade, but it was also Saturday night, which meant one thing and one thing only: movie night with Peter.

Their movie nights had become something of a sacred ritual for him and the Spiderling. Every other weekend, Peter would stay at the Tower and Saturday night was always movie night. They took it in turns to pick the title, alternating between Peter’s eclectic taste ( _Star Wars, The Devil Wears Prada, High School Musical_ ) and Tony’s far more classic choices ( _Back to the Future, Top Gun,_ the original _Karate Kid_ ). Tony had once tried to educate Peter on the matter of classic horror, but had ended up switching _A Nightmare on Elm Street_ off barely ten minutes in, after the first murder had Peter jumping into Tony’s lap and burying his face in the man’s chest. Spiderbaby and horror movies did not mix, it turned out.

Whoever wasn’t picking the movie that weekend would pick the food with the pair usually alternating between pizza, shawarma and Thai, although Peter would occasionally throw in some wildcard choices to, in his own words, “keep things spicy”.

Tony rolled his eyes at the memory, fondly.

With Peter picking their movie this week ( _How to Train Your Dragon_ ), Tony instructed FRIDAY to order their usual from his favourite shawarma place as he added the last adjustments to his repulsor code. He checked the time again. 6:55pm. Five minutes to spare. Damn, he was good.

Tony made his way up to the penthouse of the Tower, expecting to find Peter sprawled out on one of the living room sofas, snacks already in hand and film up on the TV screen and ready to go, like he usually was. But the living room was empty.

Huh. That was weird. The kid was never late for movie night.

“FRI, where’s Peter?”

“Peter is currently in his room, Boss.”

“Hey, Pete!” Tony called out as his made his way down the hallway towards Peter’s room. He could see that the door was ajar so he knew the kid would be able to hear him, even without his Spidey Senses. “You’re not flaking out on watching a movie with your old man, are you?” He continued as he eased Peter’s door open. “Because you know that’s an offence punishable by death. Or at least, no dessert.”

Tony paused.

“Er, Pete. What are you doing?”

The kid was in the far corner of his room. Upside down. On the ceiling.

“Oh, hey Tony! How’s it hangin’?” Peter asked, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

“Funny, kid.” Tony deadpanned. “Real cute. Now are you gunna educate me on all the ways in which dragons can be trained? Or are you just going to hang around all day?”

“Nice.” Peter complimented, not moving from his position on the ceiling. “Well, you see, I have a slight problem.”

“You are a slight problem, kid.”

“Hey!”

“Okay, okay, I’ll bite.” Tony said, holding up his hands in surrender. “What’s your problem, kiddo?”

“I’m stuck up here and can’t get to the door because there’s a monster.” Peter said seriously.

“A monster.” Tony repeated.

“Yes, a monster. And it’s under my bed.”

Tony rubbed his hand down his face in mock exasperation, assuming that this was the kid’s idea of a practical joke.

“Pete, aren’t you a little old for the whole monster under the bed thing? Did May not buy you a nightlight when you were little?”

“I’m serious!”

“Hi Serious, I’m Tony.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “You’ve resorted to dad jokes now? Really? Look for yourself if you don’t believe me!”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “You want me, Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, philanthropist, to get down on my hands and knees to check for a monster under my sixteen-year-old kids’ bed?”

“Yes.” Peter replied confidently, like it was the most normal request in the world.

“Fine.” Tony replied casually after a pause, pointing at Peter. “But no snacks for you tonight, you’ve clearly already had too much sugar today.”

Peter simply rolled his eyes again as Tony got down on his _literal_ hands and knees. Jesus, the things he did for his kid. As requested, he peered under the bed. And as expected, he saw nothing that even slightly resembled a monster. In fact, there was hardly anything under the bed at all, just a sneaker that Peter had been looking for _forever_ and a couple of protein bar wrappers.

“So, what’s this monster supposed to look like, Pete? Because right now I’m seeing a whole lot of nothing.” Tony said as he continued to humour the kid by peering under the bed.

“Black…”

“Uh huh.”

“Hairy…”

“Uh huh.”

“Hideously ugly…”

“Uh huh.”

“…and eight legs.”

Tony stilled, slowly raising his head to look at Peter in disbelief.

“Peter.” He said carefully, looking the kid in the eyes. “Are you telling me that _Spider_ -Man is stuck to the ceiling of his room because he’s scared of a _spider_?!”

“You make it sound ridiculous…” Peter grumbled.

“That’s because it is ridiculous, Pete!”

“You won’t be saying that once you see the size of the thing!” Peter countered.

Rolling his eyes, Tony glanced under the bed again. Still nothing. “Pete, seriously buddy, there’s nothing under here!”

“Crap.” Peter said quietly to himself, his eyes darting around the room suspiciously. “That must mean that it’s moved without me noticing…”

Tony got to his feet, brushing off his knees unnecessarily. “Pete, come on kid. This is crazy. Just come down and let’s go watch this stupid movie and OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”

On the floor, between Tony and the door, was admittedly, the biggest spider Tony had ever seen. Its black body was large and fat, and its legs were thick, each joint visible. Later, when he was telling this story to Rhodey and attempting to not sound like a complete moron, he would swear that if he concentrated hard enough, he could see the hairs that stuck up from all over the ugly monstrosity.

“Well, Tony, I hate to say I told you so but…”

Tony held up a hand towards Peter, shushing him silently without taking his eyes from the spider.

“Pete,” Tony began, eyes fixed on the eight-legged beast in front of him, “I really don’t need the whole ‘I told you so’ speech right now. It’s still only a spider, it’s more scared of us than we are of it.”

“Ha!” Peter laughed from his position on the ceiling. “You try telling it that!”

Determined not to be beaten by the Quasimodo of arachnids, Tony tentatively stepped once towards the door. Before he could take another step, the spider scuttled towards him, zigzagging across the floor brazenly and coming to an abrupt halt a couple of feet in front of him. The suddenness of the movement caught Tony off guard, causing him to stride back instinctively, the back of his legs hitting the edge of Peter’s bed.

If you had asked him outright, Tony would have never said he was afraid of spiders, but there was something about this one in particular. It meant business. It stood, almost defiantly, facing Tony. Taunting him. Now Tony was getting a closer look, he could see that the spider, in fact, only had seven legs; the eighth had been cut-off at the uppermost joint

A battle wound from one of the spider’s previous hostage situations, Tony assumed.

Tony imagined that if spiders had faces, this one would be scarred and disfigured from its previous conquests.

“Okay, kid.” Tony said, shooting a look in Peter’s direction. “New plan.”

* * *

Pepper Potts was a busy woman. Of course, that went without saying. With a world-renowned company to run and a fiancé like Tony Stark to keep in check, Pepper’s life was never boring.

Which was why as she stepped into the penthouse late on Saturday night and heard no sound coming from the living room, she was… suspicious. It was quiet. Too quiet, especially for a Tony and Peter movie night. And quiet was never a good sign in their household. Either the pair were causing trouble, or they were in trouble, it was always one or the other with those two.

Her mind immediately started racing. Had they been called out to a mission? She hadn’t had any alerts come through on her phone, but it was a possibility if something had only just happened.

Maybe they had just gone out for the evening? No, she thought, dismissing the idea before it had even had chance to fully form in her mind. It was a Saturday. Nothing (except maybe an alien invasion) would make them miss movie night.

It was odd.

“Pep?!” she heard a voice shout from the distance, interrupting her theorising.

“Tony?” she called back, abandoning her handbag and keys on the sideboard by the elevator. “Where are you?”

“Peter’s room! Come quick!”

She ran, as quickly as her Louboutin’s would carry her on the slick hardwood floor, towards Peter’s room, suddenly panicking. She could tell by Tony’s tone that something was wrong.

“Tony,” she began, breathlessly as she made it to the room’s doorway. “What’s going on? What’s…”

“Stop right there, Pep!” Tony instructed, as she was about step over the threshold.

Pepper took in the sight before her. Tony and Peter were laid on Peter’s bed, both snuggling under the covers together in the centre so that only their heads and shoulders were visible above the comforter. Tony had an arm slung over Peter’s shoulder as the kid rested his head on the older man’s chest comfortably. They had Peter’s Starkpad propped up on top of the overs between them, and now she was closer, Pepper could hear what she assumed was a movie playing from the device.

There were takeout containers littering the side of the bed. Shawarma of course. _Well_ , Pepper thought, _at least they aren’t starving to death._

They looked fine. They were both fine. Pepper let out the breath that she had been holding.

“Tony, what is wrong with you?!” She admonished. “I thought there was something wrong, I thought that Peter was hurt! What on earth are you two doing in here?!”

“We’re having movie night.” Tony replied, casually.

“Is there something wrong with the living room?”

“We just thought we’d make use of one of the many other rooms the penthouse has to offer. A change of scenery, you know.” Tony’s tone was innocent, but his eyes were anything but.

Pepper simply crossed her arms over her chest, gave her fiancé and his suspiciously quiet mini-me _the_ _look_ , and waited.

A moment passed.

Peter, who wasn’t as well versed in the handling of Pepper’s interrogation tactics as Tony, cracked first. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply removed an arm from under the covers and pointed towards the wall to Peppers right.

Pepper turned, taking in the sight before her, before she sighed.

“A spider.” She deadpanned.

“It was on the floor earlier!” Peter rushed to explain. “It wouldn’t let us leave, right Tony?”

“He’s right, Pep. The damn thing practically tried to shank me when I went towards the door…”

“… so, we accepted out fate…” Peter interrupted solemnly.

“…and decided we would have to have movie night in here instead.” Tony finished.

Pepper gaped at the two, lips slightly parted in disbelief. Two of Earth’s mightiest superheroes thwarted by Incy Wincy.

Her attention fell back onto the takeout containers. “But you managed to leave long enough to grab your delivery, I see?”

“Actually, Tony used his phone to hack the Roomba. We sent it down in the elevator and the delivery guy had to balance the box on top, and then we guided it back to us. It was awesome!”

Pepper’s eyes moved from Peter to look at her fiancé in disbelief.

Tony just shrugged. “We had to keep our strength up, Pep. Who knew when the beast was planning to strike!”

Pepper stared at the pair a moment longer before chuckling lightly and shaking her head. She should have been mad or annoyed but in the end, it was just funny. _My boys,_ she thought to herself, _this could only happen to my boys._

“I’ll go get a glass.” She said as she tuned to head towards the kitchen.

“Did you see the size of that thing?” Tony shouted after her. “I think you’ll need a bowl, honey!”

“You’re our hero, Pepper!” She heard Peter call out afterwards.

Pepper just laughed quietly.

_Pepper Potts. CEO. Fiancé. Spider slayer._

**Author's Note:**

> At the time of me posting this it is currently 2am so I apologise for any and all mistakes you are likely to find! ;)
> 
> (I've recently started a tumblr again, so feel free to come over and chat! http://irondadbxtch.tumblr.com/)


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